Logo Design for Tampa's First Restaurant Week

A brief description of Restaurant Week 2010 courtesy of Tampa Bay & Company:
From Sunday, August 29th through Monday, September 6th, Restaurant Week diners can take advantage of amazing deals at many of the Tampa Bay area's finest restaurants. Participating locations will showcase their fare by offering either a $25, $30, or $35 prix fixe 3-course menus (appetizer, entrée and dessert) throughout the week. Prices are per person and exclude beverages, tax and gratuities.

Diners can choose from old favorites to the latest culinary hot spots, from nationally known chain restaurants to local chef owned bistros, from Asian or Spanish fare to French, Italian, tapas and sushi, from the award-winning restaurants of downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg to the gourmet gems on the beaches.

Check back in July for a list of participating restaurants.

Dine Tampa Bay is organized by Tampa Bay & Company and the Florida Restaurant Association's Hillsborough & Pinellas County Chapters.

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Tampa Bay & Company hired m. sage design to create the Restaurant Week 2010 logo. I drew initial inspiration from the University of Tampa minarets, Gasparilla and Tampa's waterfront locale and beautiful sunsets.

Ruffled & Rouged

An upcoming tropical getaway has me on a hunt for a new piece of swimwear. The one thing I know I'm looking for: ruffles. These were my top finds.

1. Xhilaration Floral Two-Piece Bikini at Target  2. Petal Pusher Demi Bra Top and Petal Pusher Bikini Top from Betsey Johnson  3. Ruffled Swimdress in Cherry from Juicy Couture  4. Rio Ruffle Halter by vitamin A  5. AE Glamour Ruffle Underwire Bikini from American Eagle  6. Ruffled Bandeau Bikini by Juicy Couture  7. Double-Ruffle Bandeau Bikini from Marc by Marc Jacobs at Neiman Marcus  

You can call me Nanerpus

My favorite Denny's commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur0LENvY5TE

Chiquita Banana Brand Refresh

design:related posted a great interview with the Chiquita banana brand refresh art director, DJ Neff. Both Matt Sung of design:related and DJ are fellow University of Florida graphic design classmates. So proud of  them.

Here is an interesting q/a from the post about branding:
Matt: So, what is “brand equity”, and what makes it significant not only for Chiquita but also for other brands out there?
DJ: I like to talk about brand equity in what I do because I feel like it is the most important starting point to rebranding any business. I think brand equity is a pretty simple notion: unique value. Sometimes it’s an easy to see value, like the Chiquita stickers, or sometimes it can be harder to recognize, like an old forgotten tagline that was abandoned because of changing fads. This is where my job gets fun, in discovering unique traits a brand has to build on, even if they may be lost in the marketing shuffle over the years.